Home Restaurant

Neighborhood: West Village, 20 Cornelia St. (between 4th St. and Bleecker St.)

Mimosa Rating:

Outside of Home

The scoop: Even though my initial brunch plans for another spot in the West Village fell through, I was still craving brunch. I braved the cold October snow/rain to head over to Home Restaurant, which Victoria and I had noticed over the summer when we brunched across the street at Cornelia Street Cafe. I remembered being drawn to the cute ambiance, and after reading more about their farm-to-table menu, it seemed like the perfect spot on a dreary day.

I arrived around 1 p.m. on a Saturday, and it was relatively empty. The atmosphere is very homey. The restaurant is definitely named correctly. I felt like I was hanging out in the living room of an old New England-style home. There were several different paintings on the walls, and bottles of wine lined the walls. There were also several mirrors in the restaurant. Even though it was pretty empty, the service wasn’t the best. I sat for a good few minutes before I was acknowledged. The food did come out very quickly, and the server was nice, but I felt like he could have been a little more attentive.

Bottoms up: Home offers your typical mimosa and bloody Mary on their drink menu, as well as some specialty seasonal drinks.

Hot spiced apple cider $9 / Hot cider with white rum

Hot cider

Since it was snowing, I was craving a hot brunch drink. As soon as I saw this on the menu, I knew I had to try it. It was the perfect fall drink, even though the weather was more like winter! I could smell the cider and spices as soon as it was put on the table. There was a thin apple slice in the drink, and you could see specks of cinnamon floating around. The cinnamon added a nice spice to the drink. The cider was hot, but not too hot. It was strong! I could definitely taste the rum. This drink really hit the spot.

Chew on this:

Cornbread / Complimentary

Cornbread

A huge basket of cornbread was given to me a few minutes after I sat down. I wasn’t expecting this, so it was a nice surprise. It was cut into small pieces and served with a slab of butter on the side. I tried one of the pieces and wasn’t overly impressed. It was dry and had a taste that I couldn’t quite put my finger on, but it was something I’ve never tasted in cornbread before.

Soup of the day $7 / Lentil and bacon soup

Lentil and bacon soup

I hardly ever order soup at brunch, but between the weather and cozy ambiance, this seemed like the right place to sip on some soup. The soup of the day was lentil and bacon. It was definitely a hearty serving of soup. I probably could have just ordered this and been full. The soup was packed with small lentils, carrots, celery and bacon. The bacon was a thick-cut bacon that was cut into small pieces. I could taste a little bit of a smoky flavor to it, and it enhanced the flavor of the soup. I only ate about half of it. While it was certainly better than a can of Campbell’s soup, nothing about it was really special.

Country biscuits and chicken sausage milk gravy $11

Biscuits and gravy

Don’t ask me why, but I’ve had a serious craving for biscuits and gravy recently. When I saw this on the menu and the waiter mentioned it to me, I knew I had to get it. The only other place I’ve gotten this dish at is Nolita House, so I’m not quite sure how it’s supposed to taste, but Home’s version of this dish was pretty good. The biscuits were drowning in the gravy, which had a little bit of a spice to it. The was a good amount of the chicken sausage in the dish. It was cut up into small pieces, and it added a nice flavor to the gravy. The biscuit was tasty, but it wasn’t the best biscuit I’ve ever had. It held up well in the gravy. It wasn’t too flaky and didn’t break apart too much in the gravy. I only ate about half of this dish as well.

The final bite: While I don’t really have any complaints about my brunch at Home, nothing about it really stood out or wowed me. I would say that Home is a slightly above average brunch spot.